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Crow: Keep stringing him along.
I responded with a thumbs-up and kept walking.
The moon was full. Music spilled into the air from nearby cafés, and the city’s lights sparkled in the dark, moving water. I heaved a breath, willing the tension to drain from me.
The crowd thinned until it seemed that all that was left were couples, their heads together, talking in that way lovers do, like they’re the only two people in the city. I eyed the couple in front of me, their arms around each other and so close they were basically one body with two heads.
A curious ache pressed against my breastbone. I massaged it with the heel of my hand and sped up until I was past them.
I’d never had a lover. Sex, yes, to see what the hype was about—but never a lover.
I wasn’t even sure what that meant—to make love. Sex was sex, right?
When Crow had first brought me to SI’s North American training camp, I’d been too broken to focus on anything but becoming a killing machine. Monsters were real, and they’d stolen my mother from me. The only way to stay sane was to learn how to fight back.
I’d lived for revenge.
Ate only to make myself stronger.
Worked my body until I collapsed into bed, then got up the next day and did it again, longer and harder.
Dedicated my every breath to eliminating the monsters who’d murdered my mom.
Think like a slayer. Fight like a slayer. Live like a slayer.
After I’d completed the training, I’d gone back to Pennsylvania to visit my mother’s grave. That day I’d made her a promise—to stake the vampires who’d assaulted and killed her.
Unfortunately, I didn’t know their names or what they looked like; I’d been too terrified to see anything but sharp fangs and blue-rimmed eyes. All I recalled was three men in black, and that they’d spoken to each other in fluent French.
But I’d bet good money Leo de Froulay could identify them.
In fact, there’d been a time when I’d wondered if he’d sent them, even though my mom had insisted he wouldn’t have.
My step hitched and I almost stumbled in the high heels.
What if instead of taking de Froulay’s money, I proposed a trade—the three vampires’ names in return for spying on Moreau?
A corner of my mouth lifted in a smile that made a passing human blink and recoil from me.
I blanked my face but inside my smile grew. I liked this idea. A lot.
Not only would I finally learn the names of the monsters who’d murdered my mother, I could cause Moreau a world of hurt.
The only downside was Crow. If she learned I’d made a side deal with de Froulay, she’d be pissed off.
And a smart person didn’t piss Crow off…unless they had a death-wish.
8
ZAQ
My heart punched in my chest.
Vampires. All around me.
I groaned, lost in a dark fog. The vampires closed in on me. I strained to fight, to push them away, but my hands wouldn’t move. I couldn’t even feel my fingers.
My breath felt thick in my lungs. I couldn’t get enough oxygen.
